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What is the Moebius Strip? Listen carefully if you did NOT get the chicken joke.

The Moebius Strip is a figure with only one "Side". By side, us mathmeisters mean inside or outside. So, The chicken would go back to where he started!

Moebius strips are fascinating. Here's how to make one of your own!

How to make the Moebius Strip
You will need 2 strips of paper (preferably thin strips, like around a 1 inch by 11 inch paper.) and tape.

1. Bend the paper so you have a circle in front of you. Note: The circle doesn't have to be perfect, but no creases!
2. Hold the paper in place and tape together the ends.
3.You now have a bracelet-type paper. There is an inside and outside.
4. Use the second paper and hold it so the long end faces you.
5. Turn the paper so the paper still faces longways, but the thinnest side faces you.
6. Keep one hand grasping one side of the paper. Use your other hand and twist the paper 180 degrees.
7. Take the two edges and join them together. Hold them in place, and tape them together.

Now, You have a perfect Moebius strip. If you did this correctly, You should have a paper that looks like this:

external image Mobius_band.jpg

Picture found at http://www.google.com/.
To get to this picture...
  1. Search Mobius strip,
  2. Click on images (in the top right hand corner),
  3. Scroll down to page 2 and you will see it!

Here is another image that might be helpful: external image Mobius-strip-Blue425.jpg

Source for this image: http://dadcando.com/Doing/Experiments/Images/Mobius-strip-Blue425.jpg
One interesting thing about the mobius strip is that if you draw a line along the inside of the loop and continue until you make a complete circuit - well, you better try it yourself.

Who Was M.C Escher?

M. C. Escher was an artist who based his drawings on math (specifically geometery). He made famous optical illusions like in the picture below.
external image lw306.jpg

http://www.mcescher.com/Biography/lw306.jpg

This picture is called "Sky and water". As you can see, fish become birds. Each layer slowly changes the fish until the fish becomes a bird. Other pictures include "metamorphosis" and "waterfall". This relates to the Moebius Strip by another picture, called "Parade of Ants" or "Moebius ants". In this picture, ants walk along the moebius strip.

external image Mc-Escher-Moebius-Antsx250.jpg
http://www.rdmag.com/uploadedImages/RD/News/2010/12/Mc-Escher-Moebius-Antsx250.jpg



Resources
http://www.mcescher.com/

http://scidiv.bellevuecollege.edu/math/Mobius.html

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